Oh, Baby Mine
by WishIwasinCamelot
Summary: Jeannie sent Rodney an email about a certain baby, and a cat.
Hello! This is a short fic that I composed because I saw a bunch of baby and cat videos and I thought of a certain genius. Sorry if it's ooc or too many mistakes, it is NOT beta'ed. Quick FYI, italicized is McKay's thoughts. Please read, comment, and or follow. No flames please, those make me sad.

If I truly owned Stargate, would you really think I would be writing fanfiction right now? (Alas, I do not own it). Enjoy!

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McKay walked into his quarters with a sigh. It was a little past noon, yet he was god awfully tired. The door closed with it's usual whoosh and he shucked off his shoes. Team night was tonight, coincedently in his room.

He picked up an old pair of pants, then put his laptop on his bed. He cleaned the floor for now, taking off his radio and decided he might as well check his e-mail, since he finished that task. He walked over to his bed and sat down, tucking one leg under the other. He picked up the laptop, setting it against his leg. He opened the cover and woke it up. Rodney pulled up his e-mail and skimmed over what was important or not. He came across one that surprised him a bit, it was from Jeannie. It wasn't odd in itself to find an e-mail from her but it was early, and the subject matter.

"You've got to see this!" it read.

Now, normally Rodney would be annoyed as she probably thought it was funny or cool, but it wasn't really. Not in the slightest. Regardless, he opened the message.

"Mer, you won't believe what Kaleb and I found in the attic! I hope this gives you as big of a smile as it gave us! :) Tell everyone hi for us!

-Love Jeannie 3

P.S. Madison misses you. You work too hard."

Rodney smiled. _Huh._

His curiosity piqued, he clicked the link. Immediately, a black video box popped up.

 _Interesting…_

Rodney moved the cursor over the 'play' button and clicked.

An old, grainy quality video crackled to life. The colors were dulled into a more yellow tint than anything else. The camera person fumbled and once the picture cleared; Rodney gasped.

In front of the camera was a young version of his father-smiling.

 _What on Earth…_

"Hello! Uh, so we just got home from the hospital with our kid."

The camera panned away from his father, onto his mother. Her brown hair curled and had makeup on just right. She was perfect in Rodney's eyes. And there, Rodney felt his heart ache.

"Oh, stop it!" She laughed. Happy and alive.

McKay's vision blurred. He quickly wiped his eyes and rubbed his hand onto his pants, never looking away from the screen.

"This is Meredith Rodney McKay." His mother continued and the camera turned towards the bundle in Carol McKay's arms. Little Rodney.

McKay leaned back and adjusted the laptop. The video played on.

"Carol, he's going to hate that name."

"Psh, no he won't. Afterall, he's mama's little Mere Bear."

Rodney laughed outloud. He quickly covered his mouth. Wow, he hadn't heard that nickname in decades. God, this was too surreal. Suddenly, it was like the tape ended, the rolling of tape the only thing playing. Curious, Rodney moved the cursor over the video,

 _Nope, not done yet._

"Meredith!"

The video changed to show his first home, a string of many. The afternoon sun streaming in through the large living room window.

"Silly Mere Bear," his mother's voice filtered through the recording. She laughed before continuing, "why that's Beethoven! You met him!"

The camera moves seamlessly closer to the center of the room where little Rodney was playing. Beethoven, the family cat, was investigating this strange creature in his habitat. The black and white cat turned towards the camera and meowed at Mrs. McKay but continued to study Rodney- a little more intensely than baby Rodney. Carol laughed again.

Beethoven stepped onto baby Rodney's outstretched leg, to get closer to his face. Rodney was confused by the sensation of weight on his leg. With the child's attention at the cat's paws, the cat head-butted the couple month old. The child jarred away from the cat. Meredith blinked at the ceiling then looked back at the cat. Carol snickered. Meredith looked at his mother quizzically.

His expression changed however, when Beethoven licked the baby's ear. Baby Rodney started crying at the weird sensation, which caused the cat to double his efforts. The child's arms flailed and kept crying until his hand landed on top of Beethoven's back. Instantly, the tears stopped. Back was an expression of wonderment as little Meredith's hand scrunched the cat's fur. The camera had moved forward during this exchange and was now a little above Rodney's head level.

Beethoven bumbed Meredith's chin, only this time it resulted in a giggle from the child. And a bone-crushing hug with the 1 year old cat. Beethoven struggled against Meredith's arms and looked dead past the camera, and pleadingly meowed for help. Carol again laughed.

"Oh, what am I going to do with you two?!"

The camera fumbled again and ended the tape.

Rodney sat in silence on his bed in Atlantis. He blinked away the moisture in his eyes. He couldn't believe Jeannie found this and got it modernized. His mother. His father. Beethoven. God, he missed all three of them so much suddenly. The video bringing back memories from his entire life-once forgotten. But growing up, things had tore the family apart, piece by piece. His father unable to stick to one job being one of the reasons. But on this tape? This video? His parents and his first cat were alive and _happy_.

The gut clenching feeling hurt, but it was thirst needing to be quenched. Rodney readjusted the pillows around him and his laptop to become more comfortable and pressed play once more.

****STARGATE ATLANTIS******

John, for once, wasn't the one rounding up the gang for team night. It was _Ronan_. Teyla had all the snacks packed into the bowls, which would later be used for popcorn. They arrived at his quarters' door twenty minutes early, he fortunately only needed to grab extra pillows and the movies. The SGA-1 team started for Rodney's quarters, which wasn't far.

They were laughing about the 'day's mistake' where Chuck came sprinting into the Gate room, jacket half off and shoelaces untied, practically screaming apologizes for over-sleeping while called-on-duty this morning. Weir had turned around and said, "Chuck, it's Saturday, you're not called for duty today. Go back to bed." She smiled and walked into her office as if it was a normal occurrence in Atlantis, that is, personal not actually "running late".

Ronan tapped the doorbell, but received no reply. John shook his head and chuckled. He asked Atlantis to open the door for him-She always listened to him-John had expected Rodney to be perhaps in nothing but a towel and blow a casket about privacy. What neither of the three team members saw was expected. The Rodney McKay, smartest man in two galaxies, was standing in the middle of his room, opposite side of the bed from his friends.

His head had snapped up quickly and his expression was that of a first time criminal being caught by their cop dad. But the difference, wasn't defiance, but the red, puffy eyes and the stream of a tear on one cheek. Rodney quickly straightened and wiped his cheek while avoiding eye contact with any of his team members. He sniffed.

John took another step into the room, as did Teyla and Ronan, this allowing the door to close. Teyla put the bowl on the chair near the door. Ronan leaned against the adjacent wall, he crossed his arms over his chest yet his body language was open and listening.

"Mc-Rodney. Buddy, you alright?" John winced. _Obviously not, John!_

Rodney sniffed again, but looked around the room at his friends.

"Yea, I'm-you know-I-I-will be?" Rodney's babble ended with a question.

 _Why did Jeannie think I would be happy about those videos?_

"Rodney." Teyla started, "You can tell us anything." She crossed the room and touched his shoulder. Rodney tipped his head down and adjusted his stance, Teyla reading his body, intercepted the Athosian head touch. She was confused by Rodney's action but if it helped the situation, she would be glad to do so.

"I-I guess I realized something I didn't before."

Ronan jumped away from the wall, his eyes and grunt told Rodney it was alright to continue.

"Uh, well, Jeannie, she, uh sent me something." Rodney stepped away from Teyla towards his laptop lying on the bed. He picked it up and carried it to his desk to where the TV was resting on. It took a couple minutes to set up, but once Rodney was done and turned back to his friends, they were nestled into a mountain of pillows and blankets on his bed. The Atlantis bed was not big enough for all of them to lay down so John and Teyla sat with space between them for Rodney to sit while Ronan pulled up the wheely chair and propped up his feet on the bed.

"I'll just-" Rodney turned to press play at the beginning.

Later on, he had to explain that yes, the baby was him. Yes, those are his parents. His first home and why the cat was named Beethoven. That was followed by who Beethoven even was. Yet, despite the confusion, they understood. Ronan laughed at the cat, and Teyal squealed, she'll deny it, over baby McKay and John could not let "Mere Bear" drop.

The team kept laughing while Rodney told them to, "Shut up! You were all that age too!"

And soon, Rodney wasn't mourning his family, home, _Earth._ He was crying because of laughter this time. Love. Life. The present, not the past. Team night became one of the best things they ever had because while Star Wars played in the background, they told childhood stories and Ronan discovered why John calls him 'Chewy'. Teyla couldn't breath watching the two run around the small room, with Rodney screaming, "If you so much as break _anything_ you both get cold showers for months! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Ronan suddenly turned on Rodney who, in fright, squeaked and fell off the bed. The entire team burst out in laughter again.

" _Family is where the heart is", is that not how the saying goes?_ , Rodney thought while cleaning up later that night, with his team.

***STARGATE ATLANTIS***

Jeannie smiled when she checked her e-mail the following evening.

"Thanks Jeannie. It made me laugh. They said, 'Send more cookies.'

Love,

Mere."

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Yayyy! All done! So Please comment and or follow, again-please NO flames. Thank you for reading my story!


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